Gwanda ‘ritual’ murder. . .Suspect promised $25k for body parts, sends chilling SMS to SA number

By Richard Muponde

A 22-YEAR-OLD Gwanda man who was allegedly found with a human head and male private parts last week, harvested them from a mentally ill, homeless man for suspected ritual purposes after being promised $25 000.

Sources yesterday said the suspect, Honest Moyo, sent a chilling message from his phone to a South African number, which read “Isitshebo sesi ready (The meat/relish is ready.”

In a disturbing video , Moyo nonchalantly explains how he cut the parts from the body of the man who was commonly known around Colleen Bawn as Mduna.

He speaks in a conversational tone with villagers who apprehended him on Thursday, seemingly unaware of the gravity of the offence.

“Ngimthole evele etshayiwe elimele efile mina ngasengithatha engikufunayo (I found him already dead and I took what I wanted),” he said.

Moyo allegedly told police he had met one Cosmas Zhou from Chiredzi at a bar who promised him $25 000 for the body parts.

Residents at Colleen Bawn Shopping Centre yesterday identified the victim only as Mduna and said he was well known in the town.

A vendor who spoke on condition of anonymity said when he started selling his wares at the shopping centre about three years ago, Mduna was already roaming Colleen Bawn shopping centre.

“Mduna has been wandering in this area for many years. He sometimes went to the dumpsite, where his body was found, to scavenge. He was a harmless character and no one knows where he originated from,” said the vendor.

He said he was surprised to hear about his death as he last saw him on Monday last week.

“He was always here. He seldom left this shopping centre. I was shocked to hear the news of his gruesome death,” he said.

A shopkeeper who also declined to be named said Moyo could have targeted Mduna because he knew no one would miss him.

“Mduna would sometimes disappear for days and no one looked for him. We always knew he would resurface. That young man is very evil. He has killed one of God’s harmless creatures,” said the shopkeeper.

A resident who only identified himself as Mr Ncube said Mduna was a quiet person who kept to himself.

“Although he seemed mentally challenged, he was not violent. He didn’t bother anyone and was a person who minded his own business,” she said.

Moyo allegedly killed Mduna on Tuesday last week and packed the head and scrotum that had two testicles in a bag and took them to his rural home in Garanyemba.

He denied having killed the man, saying he just “saw” the body at a dumpsite and decided to remove its head and testicles with a view to selling them.

The heinous act came to light when Moyo’s cousin, Mr Thandolwenkosi Ndlovu (19), visited him at his mother’s homestead on Thursday afternoon after hearing rumours that he was in possession of body parts.

Moyo’s mother, Ms Beauty Ndlovu, was not at home as she works at a farm in the Limpopo province of South Africa.

Mr Ndlovu budged into the kitchen and was greeted by the head on a bloodied sack and bolted out, alerting other villagers who effected a citizen’s arrest on Moyo.

On Friday, Moyo led police to a dumpsite in Colleen Bawn where he allegedly said he had left the mutilated body in a shallow grave.

Detectives recovered the headless body and conveyed it to Gwanda Provincial Hospital mortuary for postmortem.

National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi could not be reached for comment yesterday. The Chronicle